The Arizona Coyotes have been one of the league’s worst teams over the past half-decade. After making a surprising appearance in the Western Conference Final in 2011-12, the Coyotes have missed the playoffs in six-consecutive seasons. Last year, they set a record for futility as they didn’t earn a regulation win until their 21st game of the season over a month into the year. That said, for their troubles the Coyotes own one of the best groups of young talent in the NHL. The team has stockpiled high draft picks over the last few years which has resulted in a loaded prospect pool.

At the forefront is 2016 first-round pick Clayton Keller who finished his rookie season with 65 points in 82 games. Dylan Strome, the third overall pick in 2015, has dominated at both the OHL and AHL level and should be able to make the jump to the NHL next season. Brendan Perlini, Christian Fischer, and Jakob Chychrun are other young players who have already made an impact on the Coyotes.

For the second summer in a row, the Coyotes stuck a surprising deal out of nowhere. In 2017, they made a surprising deal with the Blackhawks to acquire veteran defenceman Niklas Hjalmarsson and with the Rangers to acquire goalie Antti Raanta and centre Derek Stepan. This summer, the Coyotes dealt struggling young forward Max Domi to Montreal for Alex Galchenyuk, another young forward in need of a change of scenery.

The Coyotes also involved themselves in another Long Term Injured Reserve dump deal. In previous summers, the Coyotes have acquired the contracts of Chris Pronger, Pavel Datsyuk, and Dave Bolland knowing they’d never play for the team but ownership was willing to eat the actual salary of the contract on the LTIR. This time, the Coyotes acquired Marian Hossa’s contract from the Blackhawks. Though Hossa won’t play, the Hawks will save actual money and the Coyotes got solid roster players Vinnie Hinostroza and Jordan Oesterle for their trouble.

The biggest move of Arizona’s off-season, though, was the signing of star defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to n eight-year contract extension. OEL was set to become one of the top defenders to hit the open market in 2019, but the Coyotes inked him to an eight-year extension worth $8.25 million annually well before he became a free agent. The team also signed young centre Christian Dvorak to a six-year contract extension despite the fact he’s played just two seasons at the NHL level.

After an eventful and at times confusing offseason, the Carolina Hurricanes got off to a scorching start to the 2018-19 season. In their first five games, the Canes went 4-0-1 while outscoring the opposition 22-15 in all situations and 16-9 at 5v5. They were also controlling 62.4% of the unblocked shot attempts at 5v5 during…